I write songs now I look at my strengths and I start there. In The Walkmen, we'd start with the live stuff.

I never want to travel while I'm on vacation anymore. The only vacations I want to take now are ones where I just go and sit somewhere.

The great thing is that when you hire string players you always get really great players. I don't know why that is.

Traveling makes a vacation lose all appeal. You would never want to take the family to a European city. You travel a lot, but it's a job.

When we got to the step when we'd normally start collaborating, we started having these talks about how it was not worth getting together. Getting together just didn't feel very inspired, and doing it alone did.

I used to put the vocals on top and piece it together. Now I start with the vocals and the string parts I write; the drums are kind of an afterthought. And who knows, maybe that will get boring, but right now that's the most interesting way for me.

When I finally got to 30, I'll admit that there was a little anxiety, but at the same time I actually really liked it.